Laurie Kennedy has been principal violist and frequent soloist with
the Portland Symphony Orchestra since 1981. She was the featured soloist
with the PSO in 1997 for the opening of the newly renovated Merrill
Auditorium. In October 2011, she performed the Bloch Suite Hebraique
with the PSO, and in 2007 was soloist with violinist/conductor, Joseph
Silverstein, in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante.
Well known as a chamber music artist throughout the Northeast, Laurie
has performed every summer for almost forty years at the Sebago-Long
Lake Music Festival. She became co-Music Director of this Festival in
1985, and served as Music Director from 2000 to 2015. She has been
commended for “some of the most evocative programming on the Maine
summer music scene” (Portland Press Herald 2011), and for hiring
artists from around the country who play “with passion and precision”
(PPH 2015) – “chamber music one would expect to hear at Lincoln Center”
(PPH 2014). Laurie is also founder, co-director, and violist with Maine
Mountain Chamber Music, which has presented a spring and fall series at
the University of Maine at Farmington since 2002. She is highly regarded
for designing and narrating the popular Music for Kids and Discovery
programs at SLLMF, and for her devotion and enthusiasm in presenting
classical music to school children throughout Maine. She teaches viola,
violin and chamber music in the Farmington area.
At the age of 21, Laurie joined the viola section of the Montreal
Symphony Orchestra, and later served as principal violist for the
Vancouver Symphony and the Buffalo Philharmonic. A native of
Massachusetts, she received her bachelor’s degree from Smith College
with Distinction, and her master’s, as well as the coveted Performer’s
Certificate, from Indiana University School of Music. Laurie has resided
in Carthage, Maine since 1981. She is an avid gardener and enjoys
cooking, hiking, camping, yoga and traveling. Laurie has performed at
the SLLMF since 1977.